The wintry scenes of April

This is the view out my back window this morning. It's April 25th right? The ironic part? Today is the day that people are hosting "Break-Up" parties (aka welcoming spring) around here. Wouldn't it be hysterical if they were canceled for snow?

Oh but this also means Connor and I need to suit up and shovel today. Sigh. We thought we were done with shoveling this winter!

I hate Air Force moves!

Why is it military movers pick the most priceless things you have, monetarily or sentiment-wise , and pick those to destroy??

They:
- lost the key to our antique china cabinet and the stabilizing pegs to our antique matching dining room table. These things survived two world wars in Europe, but can't make it through an Air Force move.

- wrapped our $7,000 persian silk prayer rug in paper rather than the gun carton I asked them to, and then wrote on the paper with a permanent marker. Can you see where this is going? The ink only got on the back, thank goodness not the front, but it still lost THOUSANDS in value. Charlie bought that for $1200 overseas, so we're not really crazy enough to spend $7000 on a rug. But still, that's what it would cost to replace it here. The weave is crushed too and needs professional cleaning. They just slapped a high value baggage sticker on it and called it a day.

- crushed my one and only print of our Hounds of Heaven air war portrait. My squadron chipped in $250 each to have a portrait of our jet over Baghdad on March 19 2003 painted, and there were 250 prints made from it. That's it. EVER. And they must have gotten inside the expensive framing job I had done and grabbed the damn print and squeezed it like a dishtowel. I think I can have it repaired, but it will never be as good as new. I gave my other prints to people who couldn't afford to contribute and were part of the war effort, like my troops and the life support guys and an Army guy who was my personal savior as far as imagery goes -- so they're basically irreplaceable to me. Not that I would wish for those back or to negate an important acknowledgment of their efforts, but I am selfish enough to wish I had one for myself.

- smashed a milk glass child's tea set that I've had forever from my family. Again, 70-80 years old. They were wrapped so carefully in a special container...it looks like they played soccer with the damn thing.

- lost our ladder. There's a small note in writing on one of the kitchen boxes that says, "Alan almost stole the ladder -- Anthony and Tyler have it, bring it back at 3." What that means, I have no idea, but I have a strong suspicion my ladder got absorbed into their company assets while my stuff was in storage.

- lost our gucci cordless drill. Now if I had to guess, I would think that maybe, just maybe, the drill disappeared to the same place as the ladder. Possibility, hmm???

- spilled ketchup and mustard on our air mattress and its sheets. Again, I'm thinking someone needed an air mattress and decided to "borrow" mine. We're afraid to ask what the OTHER stains are.

Then the real kicker...I'm just beside myself. I opened the last box -- yay! -- from the move and found all the pictures we were missing. Miraculously, all of them were unscathed...or so I thought. The last one I unwrapped was my diploma from the Air Force Academy. You get a paper one, your commission on paper and a big wooden walnut plaque with an etched titanium plaque on top with all of your stuff on it. The bastards BROKE the graduation plaque.

Now it's not like I don't have my diploma...I do. It's not like I don't KNOW I went to the Air Force Academy, because BELIEVE me I do. But of all the damn memorabilia to break, why did it have to be that? The replacement is $220 for it and you better believe I am going to charge the Air Force every damn cent. I paid for that in the first place with much much more than money. But still...it's not MY plaque, that I got on my graduation day, while shaking the Vice President's hand with the Thunderbirds roaring overhead and a stadium full of people clapping and cheering in the background you know? It's not the plaque that I danced with over my head as my classmates and I hugged and cried when it was finally all over. It just won't be the same.

As hard as this move has been, this is the hardest blow of all. I would have rather been in some crappy little crackhole of an apt for six months and lost most of what I own than have my plaque damaged. Yeah, it's THAT big of a deal. Lesson learned here is to never let the Air Force pack another one of my treasured items ever. But it was a wooden and metal plaque...how do you crack that in half and leave a cheapo metal frame and glass right next to it intact? Never in a million years did I think they could wreck it.

I guess it's ironic that the Air Force giveth and the Air Force taketh away. But irony isn't much comfort right now.

The house is a wreck from the marathon unpacking session I just had, but Connor's still asleep upstairs so I can't start rattling around to fix it all yet. The poor kid has been so discombobulated and has really been acting out lately, so I'm thinking this final clean up process needs to go a bit slower so I can focus some attention on him. He's been unhappy with his diapers so has been sneaking away to poo and pee in hidden corners. Thank GOODNESS we didn't get new carpet in this place! We've been having serious talks with him about it and he's been having to help clean up his mess, but frankly we just need to get him on the way to potty training -- but first, we need all the crap cleared out of the bathroom, to find all his training pants, and actually be able to breathe in a clean house for a few days before embarking on such a life changing event for him. He's been having a tough time sleeping with all the light at night too, but I think the curtains should help block the light that was coming in around the blackout shades -- we just installed them last night and it did seem to help. This was the first time he wasn't flopping and twitching and whining in the night.

Well, I have about 12 loads of laundry from compiled clothes, dirty dusty linens and Charlie's uniforms I need to attack, junk strewn on every available surface and three bags of trash I need to run to the dump. I better hop to at some quiet tasks now before the boy terror is up and swinging from the chandelier. Shed a tear for me as you go about your day eh?

My husband, champion of the world

Charlie was awarded the group field grade officer of the quarter honors, and is now competing at the wing level for the same honor. Very cool, since he was only here for two months out of that first three months!

Not only that, the packages he authored for his people helped them win four out of eight group awards! The intel flight was more than represented...a real testament to him and his people, I think.

Just had to drop a quick brag in the middle of unpacking!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

I can't even tell you how much I love my life right now. On Monday Charlie came home with paperwork from the government authorizing us to have a paid move! No packing at all (though I'd already done one room and almost the whole kitchen) and no expense to us. In fact, we're authorized a partial DITY (do it yourself) move and may even MAKE money on the stuff we have to move ourselves.

And my house is SOOOOO cool! We spent the morning in meetings for moving stuff and then accepting our house. I can't believe how much space we have! Maybe if I hadn't been living in the Harlem ghetto of the North I would be less impressed, but I don't think by much. There's a huge crafting space, built in clothes drying racks, three separate heating systems for the three floors of the house, a play room for Connor, a big bedroom for him, a smaller bedroom for guests, two walk in closets for the MB, and two and half baths. The kitchen is not what I would want my dream house to be (everything's electric, I miss my gas spider burners!) but you can't have everything! There's a big breakfast nook where we're going to put shelves for my books, and a great sized dining room right off a nice sized living room. The back yard is small because it backs up to the lake immediately, but it's okay because you really only spend much time outside for three months of the year anyway. The house is 1800 sq ft without the basement, so when you add that, it's about 150% the size of any other house we've ever had. It doesn't have an open floor plan like our Vegas house, so it doesn't feel as big actually, but the space is just incredible. I'm just overflowing with ideas...I want to do a wall lettering design, and I need to do something for our bathrooms since I have more than I've ever had, and I want to get some new table runners for my bar and coffee table...our old ones are looking terribly shop worn. I might get some silk flower arrangements for a couple spots too as well as some new curtains, since we had to leave several of our window treatments when we sold our house.

And I can't even tell you how excited I am about heated garages! We have two, and after three months of praying the car would start even with block heaters and freezing for the first twenty to thirty minutes of every car ride, I am ready to be spoiled with a little heat.

There's even a recycling closet complete with compactors, can crushers and sorted bins. We have so much storage space, I'm not sure what to do with it all! I can't get tempted to fill it, because who knows when we'll get a house this size again. Still, my mind is already racing with where to put my Christmas decoration stash and winter clothing bins.

We don't have trash pick up, but really, that's the only downside. The trash drop off is on the way to Charlie's work though, so it shouldn't be too awful for him to take it a couple times a week on the way to work. A couple of people have expressed shock about no trash pick up, but it's actually a safety thing. It's rare around here to have trash pick up because guys can't be out exposed to the temps at least six months out of the year.

I've got a list of things we need to get like curtain rods, curtains, shower curtains, sewing table, and book shelves. I'm sure there's other things I'll think of in the moment, but really the house is quite nice just on its own.

As soon as I have everything in a semblance of order I will post pics. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!!!

One room down...four to go!

I packed the easy room. But I still have the worst to go. The kitchen and the bedroom are the stuff of nightmares! And that is all...

Feeling overwhelmed...

I talked to the movers today, and it will cost us only $400 if we pack ourselves out of this apartment, but will be $1000+ if they pack us. Oh jeez. Since they're giving me the boxes for free if I get them back to them in good shape, I really have no other reason not to than a big selfish tired "I don't wanna!" whining light in the back of my head.

But I've not packed out anything bigger than a dorm room, and that was ten years ago. I don't know how many boxes to ask for, how to pack certain things, whether or not I should try to box my mattress, etc. Charlie will not be available to help for any of this...when he said he would be around to help, he meant next weekend with unpacking. Which is okay, I guess, but I got my hopes up that he would actually be there to assist with the movers. Ah, well...Air Force wife pipe dream.

I've got enormous amounts of laundry that I really need to wade through too, though I am keeping all the white dirty so I can wash them away from Rusty Central. Connor and I got $20 in quarters, hopefully that will be enough to get all the colors done. I also have a referral appt at the hosp on Monday, need to pick up boxes on Monday, Connor's gym class on Tuesday (or we can switch to tomorrow if it's easier) and LLL on Wednesday. I think we'll figure out what we need for shower curtains and curtain rods on Wed and Connor and I can go shop for those so we can at least take showers and not flash the neighbors if we move in before I can get things unpacked properly. I have to pack the apartment and have that pretty much done by Wednesday, because I'll be busy all day at the new house accepting the main shipment. We were planning on staying here over Thurs, but now I'm questioning the wisdom of that. On Thursday we'll have our main house shipment with our nice big king bed...hmmm. I'm thinking I'll have to skip the Symphony 5k walk on Sat -- I was really looking forward to it, but I'll be happier living in a fully assembled house.

Meanwhile Charlie is working all weekend and then working from 8 am to midnight all next week. Sigh. I really need to stop pitying myself, it's just hard being pregnant and all alone with a toddler, especially while trying to figure all this stuff out at once with no one to bounce ideas. I need to get Connor to sleep, because we need to go get Charlie and any other tipsy guys who need a ride after the Red Flag welcome bash going on tonight. Connor and I defiantly decided to have dinner together at Chili's tonight and had a good time building houses out of coasters -- of course his dinner consisted of fries, cereal and juice as a result, so I guess I came out of that mommy contest about even -- hit for bad nutrition, but plus one for fun!

Moving day!!!

I'm so over the moon excited right now...we got our base house and can officially move in on Wednesday April 9th!!! Woo hoo! Commence happy butt wiggling dance now!

I've already got the movers scheduled for Thursday and Friday, and then I'll have the carpet cleaned on Saturday so we can free and clear of this place by the end of next weekend.

The apartment was livable enough for a couple months, but not a fun few months. We got jerked around a bit about moving in here, but they had us by the chin hair because there were so few places to move into in January. We finally got moved in and immediately found all the broken stuff in the place...no toilet paper holders, light fixtures hanging from the walls, scuffs everywhere, stains everywhere, non draining tub, rust on every surface and dead birds in the stove vents. We scrubbed and cleaned unmercifully until I deemed the place not in danger of a CPS inspection, but still...and we quickly discovered that the place is constructed of spit and tissue paper. The guy downstairs would throw rollicking parties until the wee hours, forcing us to turn on fans to try to drown out the noise. We knew more about his bathroom habits than I care to record here...and we tiptoed around because we didn't want him to know the same about us! I'm sure he did anyway, considering I could hear his phone convos like they were happening in my living room, but ignorance is bliss right? The water was so hard and rusty here that I have two sets of white sheets permanently ruined by iron stains and/or holes eaten in the fabric by the rust out products used to clean them. We're carrying seven loads of laundry to the new house...I refuse to wash any more clothes in the ironworks downstairs.

All in all, I will probably be reporting these people to the military housing network as unsatisfactory. I called every week for nine weeks about broken stuff...I even lost water for one full day, and never saw the handyman. Even now, the central heat is making the apt 80+ degrees at night, and there's no way to fix it other than to open windows and hope the walls don't freeze.


Our new house is so NICE! Bigger than we've had before, with a basement playroom/sewing room/laundry room. It lacks a decent pantry, but I'm going to get some storage shelves to anchor to the basement stairs landing and that will do nicely. We opted to keep the old carpet (with a toddler and baby on the way and two cats it's safest!) and they let us keep the old style linoleum, which might not sound like a boon, but I've heard nothing but bad stuff about the new "floating" floors they're installing. They're painting inside and out, and as much as I like the look of freshly painted walls in the color of my choice, I do not want to try to paint with Connor underfoot and a pregnant belly. I think we can make do with white for a couple years, especially if it's freshly painted. Best of all, I went over to measure for new black out shades and two out of three of the bedrooms already had them! That saved us few hundred dollars! The other room we're making the guest room. It has regular blinds, but we're going to get the window tint from the base supply store so with the heavy curtains we have for that room it should be livable for summer guests. The only other major purchase we'll need is bookshelves...I didn't have any when Charlie and I got married in New Mexico. I just piled them in heaping stacks everywhere and figured I would deal with it later. We got to Las Vegas and Charlie built me the most beautiful shelves into the wall, so again no dealing with my book addiction in a reasonable manner. Well, now it's time to pay the piper and since I hate to lose any of my well-loved book friends, we may actually need to purchase shelving for them. I'm concerned about kid safety of course, so we'll look for something that we can anchor easily or has a wide enough base that it can withstand a few minutes of rough housing until the Mommy Hammer of Justice can come down from the heavens. The other huge priority is kid locks and alarms on the outside doors. We're living literally five steps from Moose Lake and it's cold and deep, and I don't trust Connor outside for a second alone at his age with the temptation of water, sticks and frogs immediately within reach. The fence might slow him down for a few minutes, but he is the master climber so he could probably figure it out quickly. I'm paranoid, but I am paranoid to a purpose, so it's okay right?

Now that everything is thawing, I'm going to go on a planting spree...might wait a couple more weeks just to make sure we're out of freezing danger...and get myself my veggies, herbs and flowers planted for the spring and summer. You're not supposed to plant much at the housing, and instead are supposed to go plant at some central plot. I'm not sure how to do that...question for Wednesday housing meeting, I guess. And I'll have to judge how much planting over there I want to do. I love having fresh veggies and Connor likes to help mommy in the garden, but I have to also keep in mind that I will be hugely pregnant through a lot of the growing season. All the squatting and stooping will be good for me, I'm sure, but gardening does require some dedication that I may not have if I can't just roll my whale-like body out the door to handle it.

Things may finally be coming together...I've been awfully lonely and pretty miserable and I think this is the first step to feeling better about this move.